U.S. EPA has proposed rules to guide the mandated use of biofuels in the nation’s energy supply Todd Gleason has details.

The proposal would push forward the use of advanced biofuels…
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The proposal would push forward the use of advanced biofuels like diesel made from soybeans, but University of Illinois Ag Economist Scott Irwin says it falls short of what he sees as the congressional intent of the law.

Irwin :23 …biofuels in our domestic fuel consumption.
Quote Summary - So what I find is a real sleight of hand by the EPA to label this proposal as consistent with the intent of Congress to push the consumption of biofuels in our domestic fuel consumption.
Irwin says U.S. EPA’s argument the proposal pushes forward the use of corn based ethanol is untrue. Factually EPA’s proposed levels for 2014 and 2015 are below real consumption. The same case can be made for 2016. Onc…

ifr150529–75Scott Irwin Discusses June 2015 RFS Proposal
Scott Irwin, Ag Economist - University of IllinoisEPA has released new numbers for its Renewable Fuel Standard obligations. It set increases across the renewable fuels spectrum, but they come up short of the original Congressional mandates. Here is how University of Illinois Ag Economist Scott Irwin sees the rule. Irwin 6:18 …so they will have no impact.That was University of Illinois Ag Economist Scott Irwin discussing the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s latest Renewable Fuel Standards proposal. The rule, once posted to the Federal Register, will be open for public comment through July 27, 2015.

INTRO - U.S. EPA is set to release for comment the guidelines for how much renewable fuel must be used in the United States. Todd Gleason has more from the Univesity of Illinois on what the proposal might say.

Corn and soybean farmers have a lot at stake when U.S. EPA…
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EXTRO - EPA could release its Renewable Fuel Standards as early as today. Scott Irwin thinks it would not be be surprising for EPA to propose biodiesel mandates ranging from 1.8–2.3 billion gallons and ethanol mandates from 13.8–14.5 billion gallons.

University of Illinois Ag Economist Scott Irwin has used the free market price of a related product, something called a RIN (rin), as an indicator of what the proposal might show.
Irwin :35 …change in policy from the preliminary 2013 proposal.
Quote Summary - If the RINs market is correct then this is a big win for biofuels. Big w…

ifr150529–71RFS2 Set to Ramp up Biodiesel Usage
Scott Irwin, Ag Economist – University of IllinoisU.S. EPA has stalled the release of the annual usage mandates for bio fuels in the United States. These are due out each November, but neither the 2014 or 2015 figures have been released. EPA is scheduled to put forth new numbers next week (today June 1). In the meantime, it might be important to consider just how using the default numbers would play out for the production of ethanol and biodiesel. Todd Gleason explores the issue…The United States congress set renewable fuels mandates…
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3:50 self contained The United States congress set renewable fuels mandates a few years ago. It also gave U.S. EPA the power to adjust those mandates. EPA hasn’t done so for the 2014 calendar year, or for 2015. We’ll dispose of the political baggage and simply focus on the results of using the default statutes written into the law. It says the nation must use 14.4 billion gallons of ethanol in 20…

ifr150529–70Reducing Illinois Cash Rents Imperative
Gary Schnitkey, Ag Economist - University of IllinoisAn ag economist on the University of Illinois campus is continuing his calls for farmers and landowners to lower cash rents. Todd Gleason has more on the reasons why.It’s all about the math says Gary Schnitkey…
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2:17 radio self contained It’s all about the math says Gary Schnitkey. The U of I ag economists has done the crop budgets for this year and suspects next year, 2016, won’t be any better. If cash rents don’t go down almost all row crop farmers in the state will be faced with some acres that lose money.Schnitkey :25 …at an average cash rent.Quote Summary - Right now the average cash rent in the state is in the two-nineties and, if we have a $3.75 corn price, operator and land returns would be in the two-twenties. Cash rents would have to come down sixty to seventy dollars to match that $3.75 price. Given normal yields farmers would lose sixty to seventy dollars (per…

ifr150529–69Monitoring Soybean Consumption & Production Prospects
Darrel Good, Ag Economist - University of IllinoisThe trade has turned its primary attention to the soybean crop being planted across the United States, but as Todd Gleason reports, that doesn’t mean it has fully discounted last year’s harvest as market maker. This year the United States Department of Agriculture expects…
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3:32 radio self contained This year the United States Department of Agriculture expects about one-point-eight billion bushels of soybeans will be used within U.S. borders. This is more than last year and it appear USDA is on target with its projection. The pace of domestic crush has steadily picked up as the fiscal year has passed. University of Illinois Ag Economist Darrel Good says the pace needs to pick up a bit more to make the target. Good :09 …of a year earlier by about eight percent. Quote Summary - To reach the USDA projection, the crush during the last four months of the marketi…

Up next Todd Gleason talks with University of Illinois ag economist Gary Schnitkey about cash rents. As it stands today farmers on highly productive land in central Illinois are likely to loose about $70 for every cash rented acre planted to corn.

I’m University of Illinois Extension’s Todd Gleason…
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Surveys conducted by the Chicago Fed and the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers indicate that 2015 cash rents have decreased between $20 and $25 per acre from 2014 levels. If these reductions occur, the majority of farmers still will have negative returns from cash rent farmland given current corn and soybean price levels. At a $3.75 per bushel corn price and a $9.50 soybean price, cash rents need to decrease from 2014 averages by around $70 per acre before farmer return is zero. Even given mid-$4.00 prices for corn…

ifr150522–67Anticipating Changes in Corn & Soybean Acreage
Darrel Good, Ag Economist - University of IllinoisTwice a year USDA tries to officially predict how many acres of corn and soybeans U.S. farmers will plant. Todd Gleason has more on the anticipated changes this year as we move from the March Prospective Plantings survey to the June Acreage report. A pretty good start to the growing season in the middle part…
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3:59 radio self contained A pretty good start to the growing season in the middle part of the country has commodity traders thinking more and more about the number of acres farmers have planted, especially to corn and soybeans. The under current of this collective thought process clearly points to more soybean acres and fewer corn acres. USDA will update the March pre-planting season survey of farmers with more concrete numbers the last day of June. Back in March farmers, with a little USDA data adjustment, said they would sow about 84.6 million acres of soy…

ifr150515–63Farmland Income for 2015
Gary Schnitkey, Ag Economist - University of IllinoisFarmers across the Corn Belt are going to make a lot less money this year than they have in the past. And, as Todd Gleason reports, if something doesn’t change, things may be even worse next year. The farms most likely to lose money are cash…
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2:50 radio self containedThe farms most likely to lose money are cash rented by their tenants. The fixed land cost per acre is generally too high as related to commodity prices for corn and soybeans. University of Illinois Ag Economist Gary Schnitkey ran the disappointing numbers and his price points were higher than the season’s average cash prices USDA released earlier in May. USDA is predicting a $3.50 cash price for corn.Schnitkey :39 …and we see pretty low farmland returns for 2015. Quote Summary - We’re using $3.75. I would note as the market year average price is lowered the ARC and Crop Insurance payments should increase. This is a mitigat…

ifr150515–61Use Multiple Effective Herbicides to Control Weeds
Aaron Hager, Extension Weed Scientist - University of IllinoisGoing forward farmers should think more about using multiple herbicides that will control resistant weeds than simply using a single control method. Todd Gleason has the terms of this statement.University of Illinois researchers pulled more that 500 site…
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2:00 radio self contained University of Illinois researchers pulled more that 500 site years worth of data from a retail applicator to see how resistant weeds developed in farmers’ fields. What they found is this says U of I Extension Weed Scientist Aaron Hager… slowing the development and spread of resistant weeds happened best when a farmer used several different effective herbicides to control the weed every time an application was made. Here’s Hager.Hager :20 …in tank mixtures when we make post emergence applications.Quote Summary - What the results are suggesting is that using a residual herbici…

150505–57More Red Meat Available Per Person this Year
Chris Hurt, Purdue Extension Ag Economist - University of IllinoisVOICER The supply of meat in the United States is on the upswing this year. It had fallen off by about twenty pounds per person between 2007 and 2014, but now it’s making a come back says Purdue Extension Agricultural Economist Chris Hurt. Hurt :26 …lost meat availability from 2007 to 2014. Quote Summary - USDA estimates are that per capita meat availability could surge by nearly nine pounds this year. Chicken and turkey lead the way with over five pounds of increase and pork adds an impressive increase of near four pounds per person. This means that the meat industry in one year has restored about 45 percent of the lost meat availability from 2007 to 2014. This calculation does not include any reduced availability due to the Avian Influenza outbreak. It is likely to reduce total poultry (chicken and turkey) meat production in 2015.

ifr150508–60Slowing Herbicide Resistance Evolution
Aaron Hager, Extension Weed Scientist - University of IllinoisWeed scientists from the Univesity of Illinois have been trying help farmers manage the inevitable development of herbicide resistance for more than two decades. Todd Gleason reports there is now proof which advice actually works. Plants are quite capable of evolving…
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2:54 radio self contained Plants are quite capable of evolving. Weeds like waterhemp have evolved. These weeds are resistant to some of the herbicides used to control them. It was thought, by many weed scientists, this evolution would take place much more quickly with the overuse of any particular active ingredient. So, extension specialists like Aaron Hager from the University of Illinois promoted the rotation of herbicides and modes of action. They didn’t have proof this would work, but now they do with qualifications.Hager :47 …tank mixed herbicides every time an application is made. Quote Summar…

The United States Environmental Protection Agency now says it will not update the Renewable Fuel Standard mandates until November. Todd Gleason reports this year’s RFS, no matter when it is released, is really important to the biodiesel industry.

More often than not when the federal government’s…
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More often than not when the federal government’s Renewable Fuel Standard is discussed people are thinking about corn based ethanol or other feedstocks that can produce ethanol. However, when U.S. EPA finally releases the RFS mandates it may be the biodiesel industry that pays the most attention says University of Illinois Ag Economist Scott Irwin.
Irwin :36 …to find out what happens.
Quote Summary - The industry for which the RFS is really a life or death matter is biodiesel. Because if the EPA would choose to go back to the RFS statutory level ma…

ifr150508–58Poultry Research & the University of Illinois Campus
Ken Koelkebeck, Extension Poultry Specialist - University of Illinois Illinois is NOT known as a key chicken production state. Regardless of this fact, the state’s Land Grant university is a primary player in the poultry industry. Todd Gleason has this review of ILLINOIS’ applied research prowess and its relationship to the state’s agricultural feed production history. Farmers in the Prairie State raise corn and soybeans…
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2:33 tv CG Farmers in the Prairie State raise corn and soybeans and they do it really well. These crops are used to feed animals and birds; chickens. Lots of chickens, but most of them are reared in other states. Much of the feed comes from Illinois and so does the research that supports the nation’s poultry industry says Ken Koelkebeck (coal-keg-beck) from the University of Illinois.Koelkebeck :33 …that came out color sexed males or females. Quote Summar…

ifr150508–55Cost of Diesel & the Farm
Gary Schnitkey, Ag Economist - University of Illinois The price of diesel has dropped and, as Todd Gleason reports, this should be helpful to U.S. farmers.U.S. farmers struggling to find ways to cut cost…
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1:53 radio self contained U.S. farmers struggling to find ways to cut cost will find the price of diesel fuel somewhat comforting. It is one of their larger input costs for the production of a row crops like corn or soybeans. This year that fuel cost will be sharply lower says University of Illinois Ag Economist Gary Schnitkey.Schnitkey :19 …diesel fuel over the last four years.Quote Summary - Since 2011 on through 2014 diesel fuel prices have average about $3.50 per gallon. Today’s cost is about a 36% decline. It is a significant decline in the cost of diesel fuel from the last four years. Here’s how that costs translates directly to the farm. Last year fuel cost Illinois farmers, on average, $24 per acre of corn production. A 36%…

ifr150508–55Beef Industry Continues Lower Production Trend
Chris Hurt, Purdue Extension Ag Economist The beef industry stands alone in 2015 in its continued reduction in supplies available to consumers. Todd Gleason has more on why it is set apart from the rest of the livestock industry.2014, by contrast, was a special year for the animal production…
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2:30 radio self contained 2014, by contrast, was a special year for the animal production industry. It set record high farm level prices for cattle, hogs, broilers, turkeys, milk and eggs. 2015 should see much lower annualized prices after the surprisingly fast expansion of the poultry, pork and dairy industries. Beef stands alone in the continuation toward lower production. This does not necessarily mean the price of beef will remain record high. Live cattle futures are suggesting a return to a more normal seasonal price pattern this year. This would mean that while beef cattle have so far traded higher than last year, that pa…

ifr150501–54Can Herbicide of Choice Still be Used Post Planting
Aaron Hager, Extension Weed Scientist - University of IllinoisVOICER The fast pace of corn planting in the state of Illinois has farmers and chemical applicators racing one another across the fields. University of Illinois Extension Weed Scientist Aaron Hager has this advise for farmers wondering what to do if the corn was planted before their residual herbicides were applied.Hager 1:57 …by the corn size restriction listed on the label.That was University of Illinois Extension Weed Scientist Aaron Hager. You may read his thoughts on weeds and herbicides on “The Bulletin” website. Search Google for bulletin comma Illinois.